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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Review: Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

From Goodreads

Cheerleader Isobel
Lanley is horrified when she is paired with Varen Nethers for an English
project, which is due—so unfair—on the day of the rival game. Cold and
aloof, sardonic and sharp-tongued, Varen makes it clear he’d rather not
have anything to do with her either. But when Isobel discovers strange
writing in his journal, she can’t help but give this enigmatic boy with
the piercing eyes another look.

Soon, Isobel finds herself making excuses to be with Varen. Steadily
pulled away from her friends and her possessive boyfriend, Isobel
ventures deeper and deeper into the dream world Varen has created
through the pages of his notebook, a realm where the terrifying stories
of Edgar Allan Poe come to life.

As her world begins to unravel around her, Isobel discovers that
dreams, like words, hold more power than she ever imagined, and that
the most frightening realities are those of the mind. Now she must find a
way to reach Varen before he is consumed by the shadows of his own
nightmares.

Wow. That's the best the way to sum up Nevermore by Kentucky author
Kelly Creagh. I met Kelly at a multi-author signing in Louisville. At
the time, I'd seen Nevermore, but never really paid attention to it. It
wasn't until I saw the Raven on the shelf and the Edgar Allan Poe
trinkets scattered around the table that I realized the title was
actually associated with Poe himself. It was at this point, my heart did
a little dance.

Okay, the story starts out with an interesting (and very well written)
prologue. I know, I know. God forbid there's a prologue! It's necessary,
I assure you. In the case of this book, it encouraged me to read it!
Creagh introduces us to Poe here in such a cool way. She brings in some
little known facts about his (very real) untimely death and uses them as
the basis of the story.

The first chapter soon starts off with the cheerleader Isobel Lanley
being paired up for a writing project with goth-boy Varen Nethers ...
much to jock-guy, quarterback boyfriend's dismay. I'll admit it. I had
more than a moment's pause about the cheerleader/goth/jock thing. I
don't like cheerleader/goth/jock stories, because more often than not,
they end up being so cliche. However, cliche can also be defined
by the quiet nerdy girl who likes to read or the misunderstood nobody
boy who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. It's all a matter of
plot and perspective, how unique the STORY is, and how WELL is it
WRITTEN.

There's a lot of awesomeness to cover in this one, so I'm going to categorize here.

Characters:

Varen. Varen is dark and brooding at first. I wondered if Miss
Author-pants could pull it off without succumbing to the Count Gothica
experience we've all had in YA books. Let's face it, tortured and
brooding is tough to pull off these days. Creagh nailed it! While Varen
has a very dark side to him, he has good reason, and Creagh defines it
beautifully without going over the top. Her ability to paint the perfect
picture of him and his emotion is enviable. I think he comes across
exactly how she intended, and not as a woe-is-me emo kid.

Isobel. Isobel has her ups and downs in the story. On occasion, the
moment kind of fell flat for me with her or an opportunity was missed
for Isobel to shine. There were times when I really didn't like her in
fact. Isobel let other people manipulate her because she wouldn't just
put her foot down and stand up for the right thing. She overreacted in
some situations and underacted in others. All in all, she was relatively
wishy-washy in the beginning, but Varen's strong character and Creagh's
beautiful writing kept me in the story. As the story progressed though,
Isobel gained quite a bit of momentum, growing into the type of heroine
I like to see: scared yet strong; flawed yet willing. I'm eager to see
how her character develops in the sequel.

Secondary characters. Isobel's friends are a group of douche-canoes. I
realize that's somewhat reminiscent of high school, but it took a while
for Isobel to stand up to them, and they weren't even worth her time.
When she did though, it felt real. Honestly, I could've done without the
others. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

* I LOVED Gwen. I have to say she's one of the best YA characters I've ever read. Her personality is fabulous, and Creagh captured it in the most realistic way.
* Pinfeathers is quite interesting. I haven't quite figured him out yet.
I really liked the way Creagh incorporated "those guys" into the story.
I don't want to give anything away, but they're cool in a twisted kind
of way.
* Reynolds, though not in the story as much as I would've liked, is
superb. He's blurred somewhere between the good guy and bad guy. He has a
job to do. While he doesn't want to hurt anyone, he looks out for the
overall best interest.

Plot/Pacing/Writing:

I won't get into everything because I hate spoilers, and this one is hard not
to spoil. I will say this, the plot was unique and riveting. The pace
was perfect in an unusual way. There were times I was ready for it to
move on, almost to skimming, but then it picked back up. Different
readers have different points of "too fast/too slow". This one's on the
fence, but paced just right for me!

The writing. Oh my gosh, the writing. I fell in love with the prologue
and it continued throughout the entire book! Excellent writing is
something insanely hard to come by. Most readers don't mind, but as a
writer too, it's epically important to me. The descriptive writing is
incredible, but not overdone. The sensory aspect is perfectly done,
making me feel like I was there, which is tough considering the third
person POV. I didn't feel like I was missing any emotion, any experience
like I sometimes do with third person. Overall, the writing was
impeccable.

Final Thoughts:

I've never read anything like Nevermore. It's based loosely on Poe's
life and works. I'm a HUGE Poe fan, so I found this just freaking
amazing! The story is definitely dark and very creepy, but it's eerily
charming. I don't see it being an across-the-board success from a
plot/genre point of view, but the gorgeous writing, a handful of
fabulous characters, and the epic uniqueness guarantee a great read! I
absolutely recommend to ages 15 and up.